


Smile for the Camera

by Treekianthia



Category: Bravely Default (Video Game) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Day At The Beach, F/M, Photography, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 02:18:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14864771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Treekianthia/pseuds/Treekianthia
Summary: When dragged along on a beach trip, Edea is less than pleased. Handling the heat and worrying about sunburn is enough for her, but of course, Ringabel makes things harder by wanting to take as many pictures of her as he possibly can. Main focus on Rindea with minor mentions of Tiznes and Yewnolia; tagged as such for filtering purposes. (Fic Archive: 08/08/2016)





	Smile for the Camera

**Author's Note:**

> The following fic was originally posted to outside sources on 08/08/16. It is being posted here for archival purposes and to help document my progress as a writer. More info on myself and my works can be found on my tumblr blog woodland-knight.

“Ugh, I hate the beach…”

Edea scowled as she looked out at the dark water and grey skies. The air smelled like salt, which burned her nose, and the sand beneath her feet was coarse and difficult to walk on. It was already getting hot, and the only thing she had to keep the sun off of her was a flimsy sunhat. Everything here was the exact opposite of her home, the snowy land of Eternia, which despite being bitterly cold all year round, proved to be much more comfortable than this place people called a vacation spot. She wished she could be back home drinking hot chocolate by a fire instead of standing in the blazing hot sun.

Of course, it hadn’t been her idea to come here in the first place, in fact, the only reason she had tagged along was because Ringabel had said he wanted to go when Tiz and Agnès invited them. A few months prior, Ringabel had returned after years of absence, and now that he was back they were trying to make up for lost time. Though at this point, Edea wasn’t really sure how much time they would get to spend together, as not only were Tiz and Agnès there, but Yew and Magnolia as well.  It would be hard enough to find time to talk to Ringabel with four other people there, let alone get any alone time with him. Perhaps if she were lucky, Tiz and Agnès would want to want some alone time of their own, and Yew and Magnolia would be easy enough to distract.

“Oh come now, Edea! Stop being so grumpy! I’m sure we’ll have plenty of fun here,” Ringabel told her as he stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She hadn’t been expecting it, so she let out a tiny squeak of surprise before covering her face in embarrassment.

“Ringabel, this isn’t the time to be doing this,” Edea complained as she felt her face getting redder. For a moment, she thought she heard Magnolia whisper something to Yew about the “peacock and peahen going on their first romantic walk”, but it was quickly drowned out by the sound of Ringabel laughing.

“I thought you wanted to spend time with me, Edea!” Ringabel teased as he continued to hold onto her. “It’ll be quite difficult to spend time with the love of my life if she keeps pushing me away like this!”

Edea uncovered her face and bit her lip. “Perhaps the love of your life would just rather spend her time with you somewhere else,” she said while putting her hands on top of his. _Of course she wanted to spend time with him, but this just wasn’t her ideal location…_

“You’ll have fun, I promise!” Ringabel assured her before squeezing her a bit tighter. “There’s plenty of things we can do here, so there has to be something you’ll enjoy!”

Edea huffed a bit but tried her best to not be too grumpy. “The only thing I think I’d enjoy right now is an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet,” she tried to say without snarking. She didn’t want to ruin Ringabel’s fun just because she wasn’t fond of the location, but he thankfully didn’t seemed that bothered by it at this point. He was as cheerful as he normally was, even with the uncomfortable heat and her negativity.

“I’ll see what I can do about finding you one,” Ringabel teased once again while letting Edea go. “Now hurry up and turn around so I can take a picture of you! I want to make sure I get plenty of them while we’re here!”

Edea groaned and shook her head. “Did you really bring your camera with you?” she asked while looking back at him. Sure enough, there he was getting his camera out of his bag while a big, cheesy grin spread across his face.

“Of course I did, Edea! It was Tiz’s idea actually- but don’t get angry at him for it! It gives me an opportunity to take more pictures of your adorable face, so I probably would have brought it anyway,” Ringabel told Edea as he brought the camera up to snap a picture. Edea put her hand over the lens and was about to complain, but before she could say anything, Yew piped in with a question.

“Is Sir Alter- I mean, Sir Ringabel really that fond of taking pictures?” the younger boy asked. “I hadn’t thought he’d be one to take pictures, but Lady Edea showed me a few pages of his journal once and they were covered in photos!”

Tiz, who was standing next to Yew with Agnès, laughed and nodded his head. “Yeah, Ringabel here is a little trigger happy when it comes to his camera! He took that thing with him everywhere when the four of us first travelled together,” he explained to Yew. Agnès nodded in agreement.

“Many of his pictures were for documentation purposes, but he did take quite a few pictures of other things too. Well, mainly Edea. It was quite odd though, for as soon as you tried to turn the camera on him he’d duck and try to hide his face away. He’s the last person you’d expect to be camera shy, but sure enough, he is,” Agnès pointed out before laughing a bit as well. Ringabel tried to get an objection in, but Magnolia managed to interrupt him.

“ _Ah, magnifique_! I hadn’t thought that Luxendarc had its own version of cameras yet! I’m sure they’re not as advanced as the ones back on the moon, but they must be fascinating nonetheless,” Magnolia mentioned with a bit of awe. “Yew drew everything in his diary, so I was half expecting Monsieur Ringabel to have done the same!”

Ringabel let out a small huff. “I’m sure if I had known of my drawing ability at the time, I would have! I just did what I could with what I had- and I’m not camera shy, Agnès! I just… Don’t like having my picture taken when I don’t look my best!” Ringabel protested. Edea smiled and poked Ringabel’s cheek.

“See, this is what happens when you try to poke fun at me, Ringabel. The tables turn and you’re the one getting poked at instead,” she jested while smiling. She was hoping he wasn’t taking all of this too much to heart though, since they were only joking around and meant no harm, but it was a bit hard to tell. When she heard the click of a camera, however, she knew he was feeling alright.

“Oh, I don’t mind the teasing when it distracts you long enough for me to snap a picture of you,” he told her with the same cheesy grin as before. Edea puffed her cheeks out in annoyance and heard the others start to laugh.

“Don’t expect the rest of them to be that easy!” she whined while bopping Ringabel on the shoulder. “And don’t expect me to let you take that camera out when we go to do something together!”

Edea watched as Ringabel’s grin turned into more of a smirk. “‘The rest of them’? So you admit you’ll let me take more pictures of you, then?” he asked her with a bit of smugness in her voice. Edea groaned and shook her head.

“That’s not what I meant! Just put that thing away and let’s set up already! The sand is really starting to burn the bottom of my feet,” Edea complained once more, now remembering why she had been so grumpy in the first place. She hoped they wouldn’t be on the shore for too long, or else she was going to be miserable. At least Ringabel was putting his camera away now.

“Burned feet? I can help with that!” Ringabel announced while suddenly picking Edea up off the ground. Caught off guard, Edea let out another surprised squeak and slowly turned red again while her friends continued to laugh.

“P-put me down, Ringabel!” she demanded as he whirled her around. She knew he was just having fun, but she was starting to get a bit dizzy as a result of his enthusiasm. Thankfully, he didn’t hold onto her for long and soon gently put her down in the shade of a nearby tree.

“I’m going to go help the others out, but you can feel free to stay here as long as you want. Just promise me you won’t have to much fun without me,” he joked before running back to the others. Edea was much happier to be in the shade now, and taking full advantage of the situation, leaned against the tree and began to relax.

Edea spent most of the morning sitting and watching the sea from the shade while Ringabel ran around snapping the occasional photo of her and the scenery. Tiz and Agnès had chosen to go on a walk along the shore, and Yew and Magnolia were busy collecting seashells and creatures to study when they returned home. The weather had only gotten hotter, and Edea felt like she was going to melt if it went up even just another degrees. There was no breeze to keep her cool, so she had nothing to do but sit in her hat and sundress underneath the tree. Eventually, seeing how bored she was, Ringabel came over and set next to her.

“You won’t have any fun if you spend all your time sitting here all alone,” he told her while putting his camera up to snap another photo. Edea rolled her eyes and moved his camera down in attempts to stop him.

“No pictures unless you want a nice shot of me being bored and grumpy,” she complained. Ringabel, however, just moved his camera back up and snapped a picture of her anyway.

“I think you’re cute when you’re grumpy, and you know you wouldn’t be so bored if you went and looked at the scenery with me,” he pointed out to her. Edea noticed he sounded disappointed, and she assumed it was because she wasn’t spending as much time with him as they had wanted. She felt bad, but she wasn’t sure how much enjoyment she’d get out of it at this point.

“Walking on the sand is difficult, even more so in these sandals, and I’d rather not be walking barefoot on the hot sand like the rest of you,” she told him while shrugging. Ringabel sighed and tipped his head back.

“You really shouldn’t let that stop you, Edea. I mean, we’re supposed to be spending time together, and what could possibly go wrong if we just went for a short walk?” he asked with the same disappointment in his voice. Edea shook her head and stretched a bit.

“Well, for one, I’m as pale as the snow back home in Eternia, and you’ve seen what the sun can do to me if I’m not careful,” Edea told him as a reminder. “That’s why I haven’t gone out in the sun since you put me down here.”

Displeased by Edea’s response, Ringabel started to frown. “That’s right. You’d probably start burning as soon as you went out into the sun, even with sunscreen,” he mentioned as he looked at the sand and poked it. Edea leaned over and patted the top of his head in an attempt to give him at least some comfort.

“We can’t all tan like you do, Ringabel. The only time I think I’ve ever seen you burn is when you miscast Fire while trying to figure out Spell Fencer,” she joked to try and cheer him up. It didn’t seem to work though, as Ringabel proceeded to cross his arms and groan.

“That doesn’t count, Edea!” he whined, “and there is nothing wrong with my ability to tan! Look at Tiz and Agnès! They tan as much as I do! I mean, granted, Tiz is always out in the sun and Agnès is from Harena, but that’s not the point!”

Not wanting Ringabel to be so distressed, Edea gave him a quick peck on the cheek before resting her head on his shoulder. “I wasn’t trying to say there was a problem with it. The point is that I’m worried I’ll burn if I do go walk around with you, and it’ll ruin this entire vacation for both of us if I get a nasty burn day one,” she explained to Ringabel while catching a glimpse of Tiz and Agnès in the distance. They were still walking along the shore, and even though she couldn’t hear what they were talking about, she could see they were definitely smiling. She was glad that at least her friends were enjoying themselves.

“Well, what about Yew and Magnolia? I’m sure those two burn all of the time,” Ringabel suggested. “If the two of them are still fine, then you shouldn’t have to worry about burning!”

“Actually, I tan too,” Yew, who was passing by with Magnolia, mentioned before throwing some shells and assorted sea creatures into a bucket. “I’m Coastal Eternian, so I tan a lot more than I burn. I mean, the only reason I’m so pale is because I spend so much time inside, but.. Ah, nevermind that!”

“Right, Coastal Eternians are used to being out in the sun, so you guys don’t burn as much,” Edea mumbled while looking at her feet. She realized they were a bit pink and moved them more into the shade. Magnolia gave Edea a wink.

“ _Ne t'inquiète pas, Edea_! You saw how badly I burn the first time we went to Harena, but here I am completely fine! You should really go along with Monsieur Ringabel and enjoy yourself,” Magnolia tried to encourage her. Edea knew Magnolia was probably right, but Edea was still being a bit stubborn about it.

“I burned in Harena too, and that was after making sure I put on enough sunscreen! I’m perfectly happy right here in the shade,” she insisted. “There is nothing I’d rather be doing right now than relaxing without a worry.”

Upon hearing Edea’s response, Magnolia let out a loud gasp. “ _Ah la vache, Edea_! I wouldn’t expect you to keep wanting to sit here and do nothing, especially after seeing you and Monsieur Ringabel being being such, ah… Yew, what is the term?” she asked while turning towards her fiancé, who stood and thought for a minute.

“I assume you wanted to use ‘les tourtereaux’, so… Lovebirds?” Yew suggested to her. Magnolia let out a small cheer and clapped her hands together.

“Yes, exactly! After seeing you two being such lovebirds, I thought you’d want to go everywhere with him, Edea!” Magnolia admitted while giving Edea a big smile. Edea felt her face turning red yet again along with Ringabel putting his arm around her shoulder.

“I’m sure with enough convincing, I can get my little peahen to go on a walk with me,” Ringabel told the younger couple. “I’m also sure you two want to spend as much time with each other as I do with Edea though, so you don’t need to keep sticking around. I do believe there’s something around here that Yew’s been looking forward to, so you two should go back to enjoying yourself and leave me to take care of this!”

Yew’s eyes lit up and he quickly glanced over at Magnolia. “I’ve always wanted to build a sandcastle! There’s never been enough sand back home in Gathelatio, and the sand around Al-Khampis wasn’t suited for that kind of thing!” he excitedly told Magnolia, who gave him a nod in response.

“ _C'est fantastique_! I used to build small castles back home as a little girl, and I doubt this will be that much harder!” Magnolia exclaimed as she grabbed Yew’s hand. The two quickly ran down near the water, and Edea stared as the two of them started gathering sand. She wondered how they could still be so energetic with such horrendous weather.

“…aren’t they a little too old to be building sandcastles?” Edea asked a few minutes later. Yew had formed a small mound now, and Magnolia seemed to be looking for shells to put on it. Ringabel laughed and shook his head.

“They’re still children, Edea! They’re just trying to have fun, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Ringabel pointed out. Edea gave him a striking glare and was a bit offended by the remark.

“Still children? Ringabel, they’re only two years younger than I am, and I’m 24! They’re far too old for this!” Edea told him. She was slightly shocked Ringabel would still consider them kids, but then again, he was seven years older than they were. Ringabel, however, just laughed again and held out his hand.

“Come on, we should do something too before it gets any hotter!” Ringabel tried to convince her. “I know you’re worried about burning, but Magnolia should be proof enough that you’ll be fine! Besides, wasn’t the point of this trip to spend time with each other?”

Edea started to pout again and brought her knees close enough to rest her chin on them. “Can’t we just spend all our time together here in the shade? It’s nice, cool, and we get a good view of all the scenery without having to go out into the sun,” she tried to convince Ringabel, who went quiet before eventually nodding his head.

“Alright, fine… For one walk along the beach around sunset and another photo, I will sit here in the shade with you for as long as you’d like,” he tried to bargain with her. Edea gave him another glare but knew it was the best she was going to get. _She really shouldn’t have been so bitter towards him…_

“Deal, but I actually have to look nice for the photo,” she told him. She didn’t need Ringabel taking another photo of her being grumpy or from an awkward angle, since she knew he’d eventually share them, so she wanted to at least look presentable.

“What do you mean, Edea? You always look nice in your photos!” Ringabel insisted while reaching for his camera again. Not wanting another unflattering photo of her taken, Edea swiped his camera away before he could grab it.

“Smile for the camera, Ringabel!” she said before snapping a quick picture of her own. Judging by the shocked look on Ringabel’s face, he hadn’t been expecting it. She hoped he had the same expression in the photo.

“That’s not fair, Edea! You know I don’t like having my picture taken!” Ringabel whined while trying to get his camera back. Edea tried her best to keep it out of his reach, but it was difficult with Ringabel’s arms being longer than hers.

“If you’re going to have all these pictures of me, I get to have at least one picture of you!” she told him while laughing. She was just barely managing to keep the camera out of his reach, but he was still trying his best to get it out of her hand. He made one final reach for it, but seeing that he was going to fail, he took a second to swipe Edea’s hat right off the top of her head instead.

“If you so desperately want to keep that picture of me in my shirtless and tattooed glory, then go ahead! I’ll just take this in exchange!” he boasted before suddenly getting up and bolting off. Edea had been caught off guard and accidentally dropped the camera onto the sand as a result, but she quickly recovered and scrambled to her feet.

“Mrgrgr! Get back here, Ringabel!” she yelled before chasing Ringabel down to the water. He was now wearing her hat on his own head and laughing, and Edea tried her best to get it off of him. _It didn’t even fit him properly._

“You’ll need to try a little bit harder if you want this back, Edea!” Ringabel taunted while dodging all of her attempts to take her hat back. Edea could feel herself getting more frustrated, so she made another swipe at Ringabel and just barely missed accidentally hitting him in the face.

“And you’re going to need to start running if you don’t want me to tackle you to the ground!” Edea warned while getting ready to lunge straight at him. In an attempt to avoid being tackled into the sand, Ringabel turned away and ran down the shoreline. Edea immediately attempted to chase after him, but after only a few feet she managed to trip and face-plant into a mound of wet sand. She could hear Yew and Magnolia gasping loudly as she smacked straight into the ground.

“L-lady Edea, are you alright!?” asked a now shocked Yew. At that point, Edea assumed what she had fallen on was the basis of Yew and Magnolia’s sandcastle and slowly tried to push herself off of it. She was tearing up now, and the others were calling out to her in a panic.

“Are you okay, Edea!?” Agnès frantically asked as she ran over. Edea looked up at her best friend with tears in her eyes, and Agnès instantly knelt down to brush the sand off of Edea’s face. A few seconds after, Ringabel arrived and carefully helped Edea to her feet while Tiz took the hat off Ringabel and handed it back to her.

“That was quite the fall you took there. Are you hurt?” Tiz asked her as she put her hat back on and adjusted it. Edea, however, seemed to have no interest in Tiz’s question and continued to tear up. Ringabel, meanwhile, put his hand on her shoulder and took a good look at her face.

“Your nose is bleeding a bit and there’s a few scratches on your chin, but other than that you look fine,” he told her while brushing off a bit of sand Agnès had missed. Edea hiccuped and clenched her fists.

“I h-hate this place!” she shouted with a shaky voice. “It’s too hot, the sand hurts my skin, and the smell of the stupid ocean is enough to make me sick! If we hadn’t all come together, I’d just take the stupid airship and fly back home on my own!”

Unsure of how to respond to Edea’s outburst, the rest of the group stood in silence. Edea was in full tears, and there was a stinging pain all over her forehead and cheeks. The salty air was only making it more difficult, as every time Edea sniffled, her nose would burn even worse than before. It also didn’t help that the sun was shining directly overhead now. At some point, Ringabel broke the silence the group had found themselves stuck in.

“Edea, if… If you’re really that unhappy here, we can go home,” he told her as he wiped her cheek. He was obviously worried about her, but his tone sounded disappointed, which only made Edea more upset. _She really wished they hadn’t come in the first place…_

“No, you go enjoy yourself at this stupid place with the others! You wanted to come here, so you can go frolic off and do whatever you want! If anybody needs me, I’ll be.. I’ll be…! Not here!” Edea cried out before trying to run off. Unfortunately, she was once again unable to keep her footing in the sand and started to fall once more after only a few steps. This time, however, Ringabel managed to catch her before she could hit the ground.

“Let’s go back to the shade, Edea. It’ll do you better than continuing to stand out in the heat,” he gently told her as he picked her up. She could hear the others whispering amongst each other, but she didn’t try to make anything out. She just nodded her head and put her arms around Ringabel while he walked back towards the tree they had been under earlier.

Once Ringabel sat her back down in the shade, Edea curled up and put her arms around her legs. A breeze had picked up, cooling her down a bit, but it wasn’t enough to make her comfortable. She didn’t think she had been out in the sun long enough for her to burn even a little bit, but she still took a good look at her arms to make sure they weren’t pink. Seeing they were fine, she looked over at Ringabel, who was digging through one of the bags they had brought with him. He was no doubt trying to find something to wipe the blood off of her face.

“…your back is a bit pink,” she told him with a quiet, cracking voice. She wasn’t sure if he could hear her, and he seemed too preoccupied with the bag to notice anyway. She was left in an uncomfortable silence until he eventually got up and turned around.

“Don’t worry about my back, it’ll be fine,” Ringabel assured her while walking over and kneeling down. “Now hold still while I take care of this.”

Edea scrunched up her face. “I’m a grown woman, Ringabel. I can wipe my own nose,” she reminded him with the same quiet voice. Ringabel seemed to pay no mind to her comment though, and instead began to clean her up.

“The scratches aren’t deep, and they’re barely noticeable unless you’re really looking. You shouldn’t really have to worry too much about them,” he told her as he wiped off the blood. His eyes looked sad, and Edea knew it was probably because of her outburst. She had probably ruined their vacation for him with it.

“…thank you, Ringabel,” she hesitantly said while rubbing her nose. For a moment, she remembered a familiar situation they had been in before where she had face-planted into the deck of the Grandship years ago, but she quickly chose to forget about it. There was no reason to dwaddle on the past, and she had more important things to deal with at the moment. Ringabel, however, seemed to notice she had something on her mind.

“What are you thinking about, Edea?” he asked while taking another good look at her face. His eyes looked more worried than sad now, but she could still tell he wasn’t that happy with what had happened. _The cloudiness of sad eyes wasn’t a good look for him…_

“It’s not anything important,” she told him while trying to avoid his gaze. “What’s important is what’s happening now. I didn’t mean to have an outburst like that, and… I understand that I’ve probably ruined this entire trip for you, and I’m sorry…”

Ringabel let out a small sigh and chose not to respond. He seemed to be trying to find the right words first, and Edea assumed it was so he didn’t hurt her feelings. She had accepted what she had done though and knew there wasn’t really any way she could fix things, so she just sat in silence and shivered a bit as the breeze picked up more. Ringabel didn’t seem to be as bothered by the wind as she was, and instead put the cloth down and reached for his camera, which was still where Edea had dropped it earlier. He took a moment to sit down and brush the sand off the lens before placing it back into Edea’s lap.

“You know, I had wanted to teach you how to pilot airships,” he suddenly mentioned to her. It was off topic, so Edea wasn’t sure how to respond at first. _Why would he even bring it up at a time like this?_

“Did you really?” she asked while looking back over and perking up a bit. She wasn’t really surprised by the fact when she thought about it, since he _had_ mentioned it to her once or twice before, but it didn’t make the topic change any less strange. In the end, she figured he had chosen to mention it because of her comments during her outburst.

“Mhm… I considered doing it ages ago, but decided to wait on it,” he began to explain, “so admittedly I was a bit disappointed when I learned you had learned to fly while I was gone.”

Edea lowered her gaze again. “Yeah, it’s kind of hard to not learn how to fly airships when you become a captain in the Eternian Guard,” she mentioned. Ringabel let out another sigh and stretched his legs out into the sun. Out of the corner of her eye, Edea could see the breeze had messed up his hair up a bit.

“I had dreamt of the two of us riding off to lands unknown in an airship, and every day I’d be teaching you something new. We’d get lost a lot, and probably fight, but it’d all be worth it in the end,” Ringabel told her. He sounded a tad nostalgic, even though this was something that had obviously never happened, but she paid no mind to it.

“How can you be so sure it would have been worth it in the end? I could have been a crap pilot for all you know,” she pointed out to him as she tilted her head towards him. She realized she was still coming off as being bitter, which definitely wasn’t good with everything that had just happened, but Ringabel still managed to smile.

“I know it would have been worth it because I would have been with you,” he assured her. “After all the time we’ve spent apart, my greatest joy now is found whenever I’m by your side.”

Edea couldn’t help but be a bit embarrassed by Ringabel’s words, but they were also admittedly painful. She hadn’t enjoyed being apart either, but she had only ever considered how hard it had been for her. She had been miserable with him gone, and despite the way he had acted the one time they saw each other before their true reunion, he must have been in pain as well. It was upsetting to say the least, and she had to try her best to not tear up. She could feel her lip starting to quiver.

“I-i’m sorry I’ve been so difficult. The purpose of this trip was so we could spend time together, and I haven’t even made a good effort at all…” she apologized with a shaky voice. Ringabel, who was still calm, took a moment to drape his arms around her shoulders. He pulled her closer to him in attempts to comfort her.

“But you’re with me now, aren’t you? It’s still so early into our trip, and there’s still so much more we can do together,” he reassured her before kissing her on the temple. Edea blushed a bit more and took his hand to try and assure herself it was okay. To help her, Ringabel squeezed her hand tightly, and she did the same in return.

“I promise I’ll put in a stronger effort into spending time with you. I’m not going to let anymore of our time here go to waste,” she told him while leaning against him. He was warm from all of his time out in the sun, but Edea wasn’t going to complain. The breeze had picked up enough to make her a bit chilly, though she ultimately preferred that to the earlier heat.

“No time spent with you is considered a waste of time, my little peahen,” he told her as he brushed his fingers through some strands of her hair. He sounded a bit happier now, albeit being a bit quiet, yet he seemed to feel fine. In an attempt to curl up a bit closer, Edea shifted a bit, but while doing so she realized something was in the way.

“Oh, I don’t really need this…” she said while moving the camera out of her lap. “I hope I didn’t break it when I threw it into the sand earlier.”

“Mmmm…” was the only sound Ringabel made as he took the camera from her. He had cleaned it earlier, but when he flipped the back of it open to check the film, it had become obvious he had missed some. Edea leaned over a bit to get a better look. _Hopefully she didn’t owe him a new camera…_

“That’s a lot of sand… Is the film okay?” she asked as Ringabel took it out to inspect it. Edea was no expert on cameras so she couldn’t tell just by looking, but Ringabel seemed rather focused on it. He was squinting to see the film better and sticking his tongue out in a ridiculous manner.

“I think most of pictures are alright, but a few of them might be ruined. I won’t really know until I get somebody to develop them,” he explained to her. Edea couldn’t help but wonder if some of the pictures of her had been damaged.

“Well, it won’t be all that bad, right? I mean, you already have tons of pictures of me back home,” she said in attempts to look on the positive side of things. Ringabel nodded his head and put the film back in his camera.

“That is true, but I don’t mind having extra,” he mentioned while dusting off one last bit of sand. “If it wasn’t for your smiling face, I may have not made it back to you.”

Edea blinked and tilted her head. “What do you mean, Ringabel?” she asked in hopes of a bit of clarification. Ringabel took a second to put his camera down before once again taking Edea’s hand and looking into her eyes.

“The entire time I was gone, I kept a picture of you with me… The last picture I took of you before I left, so that way, no matter where I was, I’d know you were there with me, even if you weren’t,” he confessed to her. Edea was left absolutely speechless and stared at Ringabel in shock. She had no idea the pictures had meant so much to him, _and to know this now_ … She felt bad for not letting him take more of them earlier.

“I.. I…” Edea muttered while trying to find the right words. Ringabel was still looking into her eyes and smiling, which caused Edea to get flustered. Of course, Ringabel decided to go ahead and make it harder for her by leaning in and kissing her.

It was a warm kiss, as they normally were, but something about this one felt different. Perhaps it was some sand that had been left on her lips, or dryness caused by the heat, but it was something noticeable. It didn’t make it a bad kiss though, in fact, it made it feel… Nicer, as if it was filled with more love than normal. It felt Ringabel was trying to tell her something, even if no words could be said at the moment. Much to Edea’s disappointment though, the kiss didn’t last long, as Ringabel pulled away before she could get too much enjoyment out of it.

“You know I love you, right?” Ringabel asked while giving Edea a small smile. He sounded a lot more relaxed and happy in comparison to earlier in the day, and Edea was glad to hear it. _If Ringabel was happy despite everything that had happened, she could be happy too…_

“I know that better than anything, Ringabel,” she answered as she smiled back. “If you hadn’t loved me, you wouldn’t have taken all of those pictures or come back home to me, right?”

Ringabel’s smile turned into another one his cheesy grins, and she could see his eyes were no longer clouded with sadness. “Of course! And you love me too, right?” he asked with a bit of a laugh. Edea nodded her head and widened her smile as well.

“More than anything else in the world, Ringabel,” she assured him while leaning a bit closer. She was hoping for another kiss, and Ringabel seemed to have the same thing on his mind, as he leaned in as well.

“Then would it be alright if I snapped one last picture of you?” he suddenly asked, much to Edea’s disappointment. He had sounded much more this sincere this time though, and she figured it was because he wanted a new photo he could always keep with him. After everything he had just said though, there wasn’t any way she could turn down his request.

“I don’t see a reason to say no to that,” she told him before leaning as close as she could and giving him a peck on the nose. “You just have to promise that you’ll give me a picture of you too, so no matter what, we’re always at each other’s side.”

Ringabel let out one last sigh, but this time, a happy one. “For you, my little peahen, I wouldn’t mind having my picture taken,” he told her as he reached for his camera and picked it back up, “but it won’t be very flattering. I can promise you that.”

Edea laughed and got to her feet. “I think one willing photo from me and one, somewhat willing photo from you is a fair enough exchange,” she teased while wiping the sand off her dress. Getting up as well, Ringabel proceeded to double check his camera to make sure it was indeed in working condition.

“And after this is all over and done with, we’ll have an entire vacation to look forward to. No more worries, no more photos, just the two of us together,” he promised as he finished checking his camera. “Of course, we just need to actually get your photo first.”

Nodding her head again, Edea moved out of the shade. The breeze had become a bit stronger since they had first sat down, and she had to hold on her hat to keep it from flying away. Though the sun was still shining overheard, the heat didn’t seem to bother her anymore. Perhaps the beach wasn’t as bad as she was making it out to be, and she just needed the time to adjust. Turning towards Ringabel, she watched as he held the camera up to take her picture.

“Smile for the camera, Edea!”

**Author's Note:**

> Since I figured it was in my best interest to archive my fics oldest to newest, that means this is another fic that's a few years old. This fic was specifically inspired by a drawing I made a few years ago, and as per usual, I was rather proud of it at the time. Nowadays it would need a bit more clean up, but I think it's still rather playful and fun as is.


End file.
